Talking Italian

Tucked along the foot of page three in yesterday's "Bulletin", and therefore looking as though it were an advert, was something that wasn't an ad. It was in fact a piece which reported on the degree to which other nations are liked (and, by implication, disliked) by the Spanish. One presumes that this has come from some worthy research, though there was no clue as to the source in this feature-ette. What we got was that, with 36 per cent, the Italians rank highest in the Spaniard's affection. And the British? The British upon whom so much of the tourism industry depends and indeed a fair portion of the construction industry? 13 per cent, a measly 13 per cent, five percentage points fewer than the Germans and only four more than the Greeks who, let's face it, don't count.

13 per cent. Bloody ingrates. All the good that the Brits do for the Spaniards and they can't even rate the Brits above the Germans. For several decades now, the British have been commandeering local housing, starting up King's Armses and serving warm beer and full Englishes, flatly refusing to speak anything other than the Queen's Brummie, Scouse or Cockney, parading acres of white flesh splattered with tattoos in front of the sensibility-offended locals, and vomiting the length of the resorts' promenades. And for all this, the Spaniards can only rate us a bit higher than the Greeks. What have the Greeks ever done for Spain? And as for placing the Italians at the top of the pile. One can only assume that there is a certain cultural similarity, partly one founded on attitudes to the respective nations' fiscal systems; either that or the one-time closeness between fascist dictators, or perhaps a closeness between the lingos.

If one were to ask a similar question of Brits, I feel it is reasonably certain that, given a choice of Spanish, French and German, the latter two would not come top of a who-does-the-Brit-like poll. The Spanish, by virtue of not actually being French or German, would - in all likelihood - top the Brits' poll. Not now they won't, having demonstrated such British dislike. Bring on Eurovision!


Meanwhile, a Spanish minister has made a call to arms for a made-in-Spain campaign as the way for the country to buy its way out of economic crisis. What a splendid idea. Let's all go and spend way more than we need to on the likes of furniture in Spanish stores rather than in IKEA where stuff is vastly cheaper. One of Spain's problems is its lack of competitiveness and that can often translate as too expensive. No, let's not buy made-in-Spain, but buy what's best value for money, and, in general, that won't be Spanish. However, even if we wished to not buy Spanish, we would struggle with certain things - like with wine in supermarkets. Here the full effects of the free European market are to be found; hardly a non-Spanish bottle for sale. The minister needn't worry. There is a certain protectionism that makes it nigh impossible not to buy Spanish.


And to a different matter ... I'm looking up. Looking up at trees. At pine trees. I can count at least four sacs of the processionary caterpillars in one. These pine trees that hang over the streets and pavements. You begin to make a calculation as to the pine trees in the neighbourhood, the ones with sacs and roughly where the caterpillars might fall. It's still early, but the sacs are growing. They'll be out with the guns soon in order to shoot them down and then sling them in the rubbish or set fire to them. It's a pretty gruesome end, if you happen to be a processionary caterpillar. Many won't have got that far, or shouldn't have done if the trees were sprayed. I wasn't aware of any spraying locally. There was meant to have been. But what there was meant to have been would have occurred in forest - public areas. There are many pines that are on private land and hang over the public land of the pavements and then - unless someone detaches the sacs - deposit the contents of those sacs. Not very pleasant.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Besnard Lakes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsHKvOomRE or http://www.myspace.com/thebesnardlakes). Today's title - where does this come from? A previous-era girl group.

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